I was riding with some friends last week, starting at Warners Bay and heading up through the bush to Glenrock and then Merewether for coffee. After 90 minutes riding and 200 mtrs from the end of the bush track (Seuss Land) I had a pedal strike on a stump and was over the bars in a quarter of a second, landing heavily on my left shoulder.

The result turned out to be a badly fractured upper humerus and dislocated shoulder. Things moved quickly from prang to ambulance to green whistle to ER to surgery, then overnight in John Hunter and home the next day.

Two of my riding mates said they'd hit the same stump, one being injured. In the next couple of days others told me of hitting it as well. The stump encroaches onto the track but has long spiky grass around it, just enough to not see it if, like I was, your attention falls off when getting to the cruisey bits of the Seuss Land track after 90 minutes of rock drop-offs and creeks etc.

One mate says he's going in to chop the stump back. It used to be painted white but the paint has all been knocked off on the approach side, so it looks like it's got a reputation over the years.

So I've got the arm in a sling for 6 to 8 weeks. No bikes, cars, golf, kayaks, or anything else I normally do in daylight hours.

Here's the damage. That curvey gap closed up when they got the bone back in the socket in surgery so it didn't need screws.

I did similar at Manly Dam back in 2009. Hit a rock obscured by tall grass, flew OTB and popped my shoulder out landing into the side of the benching. Most excruciating thing I've ever done. 30mg of morphine so they could walk me out. Apparently that's a lot.

Jamming it back in at the local hospital caused damage to the cartilage inside the shoulder joint, dislodging it so that it had to be put back in place, and I had a bony Bankart lesion which required tying to stop the shoulder dropping out. Sill don;t have full mobility on the left side but it doesn't impact day to day life apart from ending my surfing days, but it will never dislocate again.

The thing that pisses me off is if I'd been 50mm either side with the front wheel I'd never have known it was there.

Get the stump removed. Sounds like it's a regular accident waiting to happen. Get in contact with hmba.asn.au and let them know, especially about the other incidents so they don't dismiss it as a once-off.

The other thing is I'd recommend consulting a physio so you know what movements are safe. You need to keep it moving to avoid frozen shoulder. I didn't know. Two weeks of inactivity took six months to undo.

Thanks for your good wishes everyone. Today I go back for the first post-op xrays and review. I'll be asking about starting physio although the shoulder is still very painful with the slightest movement - I think that's the ligament/muscle damage talking to me.

I've also got a mate lined up to chop out the stump. probably this week. One of the people I was riding with had a go at it and broke his axe handle.

Sitting around all day is frustrating - now that the big bash cricket is over I'll have to find something else to fall asleep in front of.

It really adds to the frustration when such injuries affect not only your normal day to day life but also other pursuits. Nothing anywhere near as bad as you but I recently got back into track BMX and came off last night, just a bit of superficial grazing however the left hand copped a bit right where I grip the golf shaft, I'm thinking i may suffer a little bit on the coarse tomorrow. Sometimes you wonder if its worth it at all, The nagging of the missus calling me an idiot for getting back onto a BMX at my age, The discomfort when I take a breath due to the bruised rib where the handlebar gave a nice poke. The cost of paying out all those side bets on the golf course when you cant play to your handicap?

I think we just have to remind yourself how good it feels when you nab a holeshot or clear the doubles precisely. The cry of Straaaaavaaaaaa when you PR that pesky little climb that keeps you honest or nail the perfect line on a downhill course in your case.

As for your shoulder that will have a massive impact on your swing i would imagine .take care getting back and good luck with the recovery.

As for filling time while your laid up, just think of the positives, you will have first dibs on all the goodies that come up on gumtree, BM facebook page and also on the B&S section of this forum.

I managed a multi-part (more than 4) displaced fracture of the humeral head with bicep tendon dislodgement 2 years ago. Basically it was pretty smashed up and was fixed with plate, some wire, and a dozen screws. I was 11 weeks in a sling, couldn't drive for almost 6 months. Was doing 2 years of pretty intensive rehab - physio every 2 weeks and massage every 2 weeks. I'm still seeing both but not as much. I haven't regained full movement in my shoulder - my surgeon said there was no reason why not in that it was put together right, but I had been warned by my GP and physio I may never be able to raise it above shoulder height. I'm about 150 degrees now so better than first thought. Can not use TT bars anymore but can ride road bike and paddle my ski but can't remount it in deep water yet due to strength and arm raise issues (though I was never really any good at that)..

If you want to drop me a PM I can give you more detail of the path I have taken over the last 2 years. It's been...character building

It's been a long time since I was on here. My last posting was when I was going back for a review in January. That did not turn out well.

Unfortunately they found that the shoulder was more damaged than they knew. A catscan shows that the fracture had extended itself up to the head of the humerus and a large chunk of bone was no longer attached. They got me back into surgery, put me together with a plate and twelve screws, and had me in a brace 24/7 for months which held my forearm out from my ribs by six inches. They also allowed no movement that affected the shoulder, which meant nearly any movement.

The brace came off and I started physio and have had regular surgeon checks since then to make sure the bone was healing together. It was only last week that he gave me permission to get back on the bike etc. I got out on the motorbike as I didn't have strength for the pushy after six months of sitting still.

On wednesday I spent a half hour with a golf pro getting my swing back on track but paid for it yesterday with a very angry shoulder. Today it's a little better but it seems everything is going to be slow for some time.

I've been OK to drive some several weeks so I turn up for coffee with my bike group when they finish the weekly rides. I think that counts for something.

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